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Tuesday, July 08, 2014

Malba Tahan - The Man Who Counted: A Collection of Mathematical Adventures

Note: This is a review I originally posted to my Epinions account.

I actually found this book by accident. After reading another
math-related book, I decided to look in the library for other similar
books. I couldn't find what I was looking for, but I came across this
book, the story of Beremiz Samir, a man who has exceptional math skills.
The story is told by Hanak Tade Maia and starts when the two meet.
Beremiz demonstrates to Hanak the unusual abilities that he has and the
two become traveling companions.

Much of the story takes place
in Baghdad. Beremiz solves many problems for many people. The first one
that he solves is for three brothers who have inherited 35 camels. The
problem is that one of them is to receive half of the camels, which is
impossible since 35 is not divisible by two. Beremiz comes up with an
ingenious solution. From there, the problems get more complicated, but
Beremiz handles them with ease. As the problems he solves become more
difficult, his fame increases, as well. He is eventually tested by seven
wise men and passes all of the challenges put before him. In so doing,
he gets what he wants most.

I don't want to give away too much
because that would take away from the book. You don't have to be a math
nut to enjoy it. All of the solutions that Beremiz came up with were
explained simply enough for anyone to understand. While I think that the
story itself is fiction, there are some interesting mathematical
curiosities. There's one section on getting any whole number out of four
fours. For instance, 1 is 44 divided by 44. 2 is four fourths plus four
fourths, or 1 plus 1.

This book was translated by Leslie
Clark and Alastair Reed and illustrated by Patricia Reid Baquero. Aside
from the cover, the illustrations were at the beginning of each chapter
and in black and white. They were simple, but worked well with the
story. I actually looked forward to each new illustration.

There was something about the story that made me not want to stop
reading. I like math, but I don't think that was it. It's mostly to see
how good this guy really is. You have to wonder if Beremiz will ever be
presented with a problem that he can't solve. That's just it, though.
While Beremiz's skills are very rare, the book illustrates how useful
math is.

I'd recommend this book to anyone. There was a
religious aspect that might turn some people off, but I don't think that
it was offensive to anyone. It shouldn't be a problem to the vast
majority of the people. Most of the religious references weren't too
much. The chapters were short, which made for an easy read. I almost
read the entire thing in the library, but I had to be somewhere, so I
checked it out and brought it home. Five stars.